


The Case by Case Basis

by mcgarrygirl78



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Drama, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-24
Updated: 2012-12-24
Packaged: 2017-11-22 04:45:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/605966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcgarrygirl78/pseuds/mcgarrygirl78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I was going to ask about your partner but to hell with that…I'm your partner.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Case by Case Basis

“You are breaking the cardinal rule. You’re breaking it horribly.”

“In my defense,” Will turned the page of a case file. “I didn’t know you were coming home.”

“That’s the reason you're going with?” JJ asked. She walked into their study and handed him a tumbler of whiskey and a bottle of beer.

“Yep.” He nodded.

“I got home at about three this afternoon. We promised Will; we promised no work when we’re both home at night. I know, we find little ways to break it but Henry is sound asleep and here you are down here up to your neck in case files. We haven’t spent a night together in a week.”

“If I don’t do it now, Jen, no one will.”

“What are you working on?”

JJ didn’t want to ask, she didn’t want to care. But she’d known Will long enough to know his tone of voice. This was something important. There were case files on his desk. There weren't a lot of crime scene photos and the files seemed scant. But he was pouring over them with all he had. They looked worn but JJ hadn't figured out if that was because of his looking at them or if they were aged.

“I think there's a serial operating in DC.” Will said. “I think someone is killing girls and no one cares.”

“What makes you think that?” she came around the desk with her bottle of beer and sat on his lap. JJ flipped a case file open and saw the smiling face of a teenage girl. The paperwork said her name was Lashanda Nichols.

“In the past four months three girls have disappeared from a concentrated area in Ward 8. It can't be more than 10 square blocks. There's also a young girl that disappeared from Ward 7 in the same amount of time. I think the cases are related.”

“What do the bodies tell you?”

“There are no bodies, cher. There are just four missing girls and no answers for their families.”

“Do the police see a connection?” JJ asked.

“They’ve all been labeled as runaways.” Will replied. “The truth is that they all had their share of issues. But the circumstances are way too similar for this just to be ignored.” He pulled four photos from the case files and lined them up next to each other. “Look at them. There’s Lashanda, Tamika, Kim, and Alyssa. If you look at them all lined up like this…”

“They could be sisters; at least related.”

“Exactly.” he nodded. “If there's one thing I learned over time about serial killers it’s that they have a type. But when you have a mentality by the police department that these girls had no reason to stick around in the first place…” Will sighed. “It’s been keeping me up at night.”

“For how long?”

“Too long. It’s been three weeks since Alyssa disappeared. Another girl is not going to come home in the very near future. People like this don’t stop unless they're stopped.”

“Do you have any kind of answers about the circumstances of the disappearance?” JJ asked. “In such a small area their lives had to overlap in some way. Did they go to school together? Do they have friends in common? Do they have enemies in common?”

“Alyssa and Tamika are second cousins.” Will said. “Kim dropped out of high school last year. Tamika and Lashanda are both teenage mothers. Kim’s brother and Lashanda’s sister might or might not be an item. 

I'm working this case virtually on my own. No one cares. And it’s hard for me to get answers because no one wants to talk to the cops. They’re too busy telling me I don’t care when I'm coming down there every other day to help. 

“I can't say I blame them. It was the same mentality at home. The police are there control the masses, not protect and serve them. At least that’s how they feel. And there have been incidents so…”

“Well the first thing we need to do is find a common thread amongst the girls. Looks are one thing, as you said every serial has a signature, but victimology needs to be established.”

“We?” Will looked at her with a raised eyebrow as he drank his whiskey. JJ always bought him the cheap stuff; it reminded him of the swill he drank at home when he’d been too young to get into New Orleans’ many bars. Something about it made Will feel closer to where he came from.

“You shouldn’t have to work it alone. I was going to ask about your partner but to hell with that…I'm your partner.” She took his hand and kissed it.

“I'm a very lucky man. But you're right; I need to put this away for the night. I need to drag my eyes away from it and come back fresh in the morning. It’s been a week, I've missed you cher. We break the cardinal rule enough. Let’s not do it tonight.”

“Its early.” JJ said. “We’ll still have plenty of time to get to bed and get some sleep if we devote a couple of hours to this.”

“I might be a bad influence on you, Jennifer Jareau.” Will almost managed a smile.

“It’s the other way around and you know it. You were a sweet Southern boy before I got my hands on you.”

Now Will did smile. JJ did as well, taking his face in her hands and kissing him. Her boyfriend sighed as she deepened the kiss. JJ moved her hands up and through his hair. Will’s arms tightened around her.

“I love you.” he whispered, kissing her nose and then her lips again.

“I love you too.”

“I'm going to do dirty things to you when I get you upstairs and naked.”

“Promises, promises, Detective LaMontagne.” She smiled.

“You really want to go through this with me? It’s an active case…we probably shouldn’t even…”

“It’s not an active case.” JJ shook her head. “That’s some of the problem.” She picked up the yellow legal pad on the desk. “It looks as if you’ve already started some thoughts. Lets finish them and then we’ll go to bed.”

“I'm sorry, Jen.”

“Hey, I work a lot too. Do I wish we were upstairs cuddled in bed listening to the rain? Yes. Do I wish we were too busy making love to even give a damn about the rain? Yes. But I didn’t choose that man. I chose the man who cares, the man who protects and serves; the man who tries to bring closure to families like his never got.”

“You know me too well.” Will closed his eyes.

“I love you, Will. I love you just the way you are and even if you're breaking the cardinal rule I will always have your back.”

He wanted to tell her how grateful he was for that. He always told her how grateful he was for that. Sometimes words just weren't enough. Will had his share of bad memories…he knew JJ did as well. 

Together, they held on and did their best to make new and better ones. Even though this was a bad case with a surely bad outcome they were going to work together and he might get some answers. Will might get enough answers to make the NPD pay attention and take this off the backburner. JJ was just the flame he needed to light the fire.

“Alright, lets get started.” He said.

“What's this file?” JJ picked up an older file on the corner of his desk.

“That’s my big problem.”

“There's a bigger problem than four girls disappearing?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Will nodded. “That’s a file on five other girls who disappeared under what might be similar circumstances 15 years ago.”

“Damn.”

“Exactly.”

“This might take longer than I anticipated.”

“We’ll work on the newer cases first.” Will said. “Put that file back and we’ll wait until we have something solid on the new cases before we start digging around in the old.”

“I’ll take these two.” JJ grabbed two files and went over to the chair. “And you take those. In an hour we’ll see what we've come up with.”

Will nodded and got to work. Normal couples didn’t do this. Normal couples watched movies and took baths together and sat on the porch late at night making fun of the idiot people they worked with. He knew a long time ago, even before they became a couple, that nothing about him and Jennifer Jareau would be normal. 

Even when it was dark and brutal and downright weird, Will wouldn’t have it any other way. They complimented each other, filled the holes left long ago by other people who they loved. The love they shared created a life. And the love for what they did everyday saved even more.

***


End file.
